Over the years, the writers and editors at EBONY have done great work in promoting civil rights and diligently covering issues of race and politics in America. That’s why I was shocked to learn that one of your senior editors, Jamilah Lemieux, repeatedly attacked black conservatives on Twitter yesterday for their political views.

When one of the Republican National Committee’s staff members challenged her assumptions and attempted to engage in a dialogue, she dismissively referred to him as “a white dude.” That staffer, our Deputy Press Secretary Raffi Williams, is black. She went on to deride those who were criticizing her as “a house full of roaches.”

Attacking someone for his or her race, heritage or political views is the very thing EBONY has worked to discourage, and actions like those of Ms. Lemieux are far below the basic standards of journalism. She did not even attempt to show journalistic objectivity. And I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it’s unacceptable to refer to those who disagree with you as “roaches.”

Raffi deserves an apology from Ms. Lemieux and from EBONY—not just for making assumptions about his race but more importantly for dismissing black Republicans and the validity of their opinions in public discourse.

In their Twitter exchange, Ms. Lemieux said she had “no interest” in a conversation about encouraging diversity of thought. I’m hopeful, however, that she does not speak for the entire magazine and that we can use this unfortunate episode as a catalyst for greater engagement and understanding between the Republican Party and the black community.

Some might wonder how wise it is for the RNC to escalate a fight with Ebony, but there are a couple of points in Priebus’ favor. First, as Lemieux’s outburst shows, the risk of alienating Ebony readers is probably minimal. Second, it’s a good idea to defend African-American conservatives and to make a point of doing so now, rather than slog through an entire election cycle having media outlets demonize and degrade them. It may not win Priebus and Raffi an apology, but it draws attention to the marginalization and demagoguery that these conservatives experience. If nothing else, it demonstrates in public manner that any failure in engagement of African-American media and voters does not entirely originate within the GOP.

Yesterday, I interviewed Raffi (a friend of mine) onto The Ed Morrissey Show to discuss the kerfuffle. Rather than focus on the issue of racial authenticity as Lemieux attempted to frame it, for which I have no particular expertise, we chose instead to talk about the impulse to demonize rather than engage. Raffi, whose father Juan Williams serves as a frequently dissenting voice on Fox News, has plenty of experience engaging those with differing political perspectives, at home and at work — as does his father, for that matter. That’s the greater issue in this sterling example of “ignorant demonization,” as I described it on Twitter yesterday, more so than just the basis for this particular ignorance. Here’s the segment in its entirety:

Yesterday, the spirit of this mission was disregarded by EBONY.com Senior Editor Jamilah Lemieux in a personal Twitter exchange between herself and RNC Deputy Press Secretary Raffi Williams. In part of the exchange, Lemieux responded to an attempt at discourse from Williams with words that curtly dismissed him and his suggestion that she be interested in the “diversity of thought.” She also misidentified him, unintentionally, as White. Williams is Black.

EBONY strongly believes in the marketplace of ideas. As the magazine of record for the African American community, Lemieux’s tweets in question do not represent our journalistic standard, tradition or practice of celebrating diverse Black thought. …

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According to Colorlines, when McGrath asked [Kobe] Bryant’s opinion on the Miami Heat’s show of solidarity with [Trayvon] Martin in the now iconic “Hoodie” photo, the 35-year-old L.A. Laker said that such a move showed lack of “progress”:

I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” he said. “That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”

Notice the posture of Democrats and their supporters. Immediately any cogent, logical and sensible comment which does not comport with their worldview is responded to with claims of racism or an ad hominem. They can’t challenge an intellectual or factually developed conclusion because it exposes the paucity of their positions and the mendacity of their statements. It is intended to solely keep people enslaved to their way of thinking at all costs.

The only thing worse than enslavement of one’s body is a philosophical servitude. It guarantees to keep the truth forever an illusion. It reminds me of Tacitus;

Trust me, I know those publications (Ebony, Jet and the like) have outlived their usefulness. But they ain’t going away anytime soon, unless their advertisers bolt.

Royal Fizzbin on March 28, 2014 at 2:02 PM

Probably. But in the end, the marketplace will decide it’s fate…which is why you don’t see Saturday Evening Post or Look on your newsstand.

Any organization or entity that is “Black” is inherently racist by its nature and no amount of name calling or threats will ever change that.

The mere fact that they claim blackness as their avatar shows where they stand on any issue whether it is on the right or wrong side. Their constituents will be 99.9% black and their empathies will reflect the black mindset of “Us against them”. Save your breath and find a new windmill to tilt at.

inspectorudy on March 28, 2014 at 2:04 PM

A few toes over the line, unless you were shooting for hyperbole?

Psst: do a Bing search of Black Conservative Organizations…then rethink that line, okay?

A better distillation of your post would be: ‘Progressive Black organizations are more inclined to promote Progressive ideas, no matter if the author are Black OR White…but the same can be said of Conservative values as well…however, the Conservatives don’t tend to sound like asshats, and usually will have more unfair press about it if they did.’

Leftists don’t apologize unless they get caught offending other leftists – and other leftists are NEVER offended by insults to Republicans, conservatives, or especially apostates like conservative blacks or gays.

But if you live in a world where the opinion of the editor of a racist magazine matters, I feel sorry for you.

I am amused (somewhat) that while they do repeat her position for the magazine as a Sr. Editor (ie: someone who REALLY should know better) they are sure to remind all that this was her “personal” Twit feed, and as such didn’t really represent the magazines views.

Ebony would garner a lot more kudos if they were to provide column space for those within the Black Community that have opposing (Conservative) views. But that’s just my woolgathering in play.

No, she didn’t unintentionally misidentify him. She dismissed him and his viewpoint on her perception of his skin color. That’s the point of the controversy.

Mitoch55 on March 28, 2014 at 3:05 PM

Exactly. As with Shirley Sherrod, it wasn’t about Sherrod’s whole story where she said that she overcame her own racism prejudice against a white farmer, it was about the audience reaction to the first part of her story when she said that she dismissed the main due to him being white.

Good on Ebony! An attack by any African-American on the White GOP can never be labeled racism (how can a black man be “racist” towards a white man? Duh).

Republicans have thoroughly earned their racist labels. They fought continuously to block the Civil Rights Act, but thanks to great Democrats like Al Gore Sr and Robert Byrd the racist GOP was defeated. The Republican Party was created to solely to prevent the abolition of slavery, so it’s only natural they continue their dreams of putting all African-Americans back in chains.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! From it’s beginning in 1909 through the Civil Rights movement, the NAACP fought legal battles for equal justice, protested and spoke out against discrimination at the voting booths, schoolhouse…you name the place, they’ve been there.

Today’s NAACP gave Bill Clinton an Image Award for “improving the lives of blacks during his eight years in office.” This was after he was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstructing justice. Nice image.

Today’s NAACP is a social club for limousine liberals who sit around and plan fancy dinners and dredge up discrimination claims where none exist. Racial discrimination is no longer black America’s biggest problem; itâ€™s the collapse of the family. What are they doing about that?

It’s time for the NAACP to go the way of the dinosaur: extinction.

So who’s getting bamboozled?

However, the NAACP and the entire history of the organization has been somewhat cloudy and hidden in plain sight! A small number of the organization’s masses have no idea that it was not founded by blacks as most people generally believe. In fact, most believe that W.E.B. Dubois (a staunch believer in communism, and admirer of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin) was the founder. The NAACP was actually and primarilly founded by a group of white socialists and a handful of blacks! As always, Marxists have taken advantage of desperate groups of humanity in order to further its cause. Thus, when it came to the formation of the NAACP, the white opportunists converged with black desperation in order to create a force designed to not only confront the apartheid, Jim Crow culture of tthe era, but to also further the notion of an empowered working class that controlled all aspects of ownership and production!

The four individuals shown played significant roles of leadership, influence and outcome within the organization and the African American community itself.
Mary Ovington White- joined the Socialist Party in 1905; NAACP founder and executive secretary;
Morefield Storey- First president of the NAACP; primary battle was against American imperialism;
Joel Spingarn- Second president of the NAACP; a liberal Republican who became a Progressive;
John Dewey- influential member of the board; known as the Father of Progressive Education (Note: there is an unholy alliance between the NAACP and the public education system because of the John Dewey legacy ; co-founder of the ACLU with Jane Addams;

RepublicansDemocrats have thoroughly earned their racist labels. They fought continuously to block the Civil Rights Act, butand thanks to great Democrats like Al Gore Sr and Robert Byrd the racist GOP was defeatedthey almost succeeded, but there were too many Republicans in Congress at the time to stop, so LBJ co-opted them in order to have n****s voting for the deomocrats for the next two centuries. The Republican Party KKK was created, as the para-military arm of the DNC, to solely to prevent the abolition of slavery, when that failed, they used Posse Commitas (The Dems only held the House with a bare majority and used the power of the purse to block the GOP POTUS & Senate from continuing the reconstruction, using soldiers to stop the crimes against Blacks) to implement Jim Crow under the perversion of States Rights so it’s only natural they continue their dreams of putting all African-Americans back in chains, this time, instead of iron, via dumbed down education and financial devilry.

She also misidentified him, unintentionally, as White. Williams is Black.

No she unintentionally didn’t realize that he was Juan Williams son and the mag faced with that fact had to intentionally issue an apology. Does anyone think for one second that if Raffi Williams had been a white guy any apology would have been issued?

Given Ebony’s position as a very racially-focused magazine, and its liberal tendencies, I have to give them props for this apology. Notice they did not apologize if she gave offense. They said she did wrong. Good on them; it’s better than I expected.

Having said that, it would be nice if they hadn’t subtly reinforced the idea that, to them, only blacks’ ideas matter. That was a chief part of the wrongness of their editor’s position: that she could dismiss what he said because he was white and, therefore, didn’t matter. That attitude is also a big reason that “race relations” are in the state they’re in, today.

Good on Ebony! An attack by any African-American on the White GOP can never be labeled racism (how can a black man be “racist” towards a white man? Duh).

Republicans have thoroughly earned their racist labels. They fought continuously to block the Civil Rights Act, but thanks to great Democrats like Al Gore Sr and Robert Byrd the racist GOP was defeated. The Republican Party was created to solely to prevent the abolition of slavery, so it’s only natural they continue their dreams of putting all African-Americans back in chains.

Frank Lib on March 28, 2014 at 1:03 PM

On the troll-o-meter this only rates about a 2. Sorry, dear. But do try again!

Priebus is still a detestable RINO but I’ll pin a little ribbon on his tail for this: Republicans need to assertively defend Republicans, period. I doubt that Ebony would have taken a financial hit by not apologizing so I’m going to chalk that down to principle.

Good on Ebony! An attack by any African-American on the White GOP can never be labeled racism (how can a black man be “racist” towards a white man? Duh).

Republicans have thoroughly earned their racist labels. They fought continuously to block the Civil Rights Act, but thanks to great Democrats like Al Gore Sr and Robert Byrd the racist GOP was defeated. The Republican Party was created to solely to prevent the abolition of slavery, so it’s only natural they continue their dreams of putting all African-Americans back in chains.

Frank Lib on March 28, 2014 at 1:03 PM

Well played. You just ‘Drudged’ half the posters here. Beautifully done.

Notice the posture of Democrats and their supporters. Immediately any cogent, logical and sensible comment which does not comport with their worldview is responded to with claims of racism or an ad hominem. They can’t challenge an intellectual or factually developed conclusion because it exposes the paucity of their positions and the mendacity of their statements. It is intended to solely keep people enslaved to their way of thinking at all costs.
The only thing worse than enslavement of one’s body is a philosophical servitude. It guarantees to keep the truth forever an illusion. It reminds me of Tacitus;
Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esse

Marcus Traianus on March 28, 2014 at 2:29 PM

yeah that’s how the left works. anyone who disagrees with them MUST be racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. no proof needed, just accuse away!! logic? what’s that?

EBONY strongly believes in the marketplace of ideas. As the magazine of record for the African American community, Lemieux’s tweets in question do not represent our journalistic standard, tradition or practice of celebrating diverse Black thought. …

Now, I’m at a loss as to why it makes a difference as to what race Mr. Williams was. The response says oodles about Miss Lemieux and her racism, which is that no political dialog is possible unless the other participant is black.

What she’s really saying is that she’s an unabashed liberal and that she didn’t want to talk to a conservative, and the race card is a convenient excuse to not do what she does not want to do.

If you go to her twitter page it makes a lot more sense. He also owes her an apology for people from his side calling her a “plantation monkey” a “b word” and a “n word” just from the small sample of tweets I seen from those who were supporting him.

Personally, I’m happy to see the GOP fighting instead of letting the attacks roll off them. Ebony apologized and that too is nothing to sneeze at. Now, if Reince can get the NAACP to apologize he’ll have really accomplished something. I know, one step at a time and be happy with what you get.

The point is, Republicans have been lied about in the black community and those lies will keep coming unless you fight. Reince is to be commended for this goal

Trying to wrap my head around a hypothetical where a white American might have made a statement that a fellow American he thought was black, didn’t have room to discuss white issues. And then apologized in a magazine dedicated to white issues.

Yesterday, the spirit of this mission was disregarded by IVORY.com Senior Editor Jamilah Lemieux in a personal Twitter exchange between herself and DNC Deputy Press Secretary Raffi Williams. In part of the exchange, Lemieux responded to an attempt at discourse from Williams with words that curtly dismissed him and his suggestion that she be interested in the “diversity of thought.” She also misidentified him, unintentionally, as Black. Williams is White.

IVORY strongly believes in the marketplace of ideas. As the magazine of record for the Caucasian American community, Lemieux’s tweets in question do not represent our journalistic standard, tradition or practice of celebrating diverse White thought. …

Ebony basically took the only way out. As a publication, they apologized.

However, it should be noted that Senior Editor Lemieux, doesn’t seem to have apologized at all. Since she was the nexus of the problem, it is odd (or maybe not), that an apology on her part seems to be missing from the equation.

I’m guessing that the lack of obvious contrition on her part is an indication of a position she still holds to. Nothing changes quickly for those set in their ways, even if those views are firmly routed in an ancient, and flawed, philosophy.

A couple of points: First, RNC is pushing back, calling Ebony on this shoddy, biased excuse for journalism. Rs have to do this. They let far too many leftist Dems call them names, trash them and do nothing. Chairman Priebus has pushed back before and done it again. Thank you!

The leftist Dems hate to apologize b/c they think they’re smarter, etc. But their near total disregard for truth and the so inappropriate labeling of conservatives boxes them into corners. So many have no class – just a megaphone and protected environment to shout their stupid beliefs.

Keep pushing, Reince, keep pushing. We need to see that kind of backbone.